Violin



(No Model.)

J. KOPP.

Violin.

No. 243',o73'. Patented June'2l, 1881.

N. PETERS. Phuw-Limo mhu. WWO". D, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KOPP, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

VIOLIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 243,0'73, dated June21, 1881.

Application filed March 14, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KOPP, a resident of the city of Cincinnati, inthe county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Violins, of which the following is aspecification.

My improvements relate to that class of string inusicalinstruments whichhave a sounding-board and a back united together by an interposed rib orribs located at or near the edges of the sounding-board and back. Inthese instruments the string or strings are held in position by the pinor pins in the neck and by the tail-piece at the lower end of theinstrument. In the violin and other instruments of similarconstruction-as, for example, the viola, Violoncello, violone, andbass-violthe strings are deflected out of a straight line by what isknown as the bridge, which latter is interposed between the strings andthe sounding-board at a point near the middle of the latter. Thesounding-board is secured to the ribs by glue. In violins thesounding-hoard is usually stiffened underneath by a longitudinal braceglued to the under side thereof, but not reaching the back, and is alsobraced by a post located under that portion of the board on which thebridge rests, and extends transversely across the instrument from theboard to the back. The object of these braces is to brace thesounding-hoard, and the better enable the latter to withstand theimmense pressure and strain to which it and the ribs are subjected. Thispressure and strain arises from the direct tension of the string orstrings. Each string of an ordinary violin will usually sustain alongitudinal strain of twenty-five pounds. Nevertheless, the strainproduced by the winding up the pin in the neck is often sufficient tobreak the string.

It is safe to affirm that each string of a violin, while in use, issubjected to a longitudinal strain of sixteen pounds, and as there arefour strings the neck, rib, and sounding-board participatein a strain ofsixty-four pounds. This strain is a great impediment to the successfuland perfect operation of the sounding-board, for the following, amongother reasons, viz: The sounding-board being arched away from the back,the longitudinal strain to which it is subjected tends to prevent itsvibration toward I the hack, and the vertical pressure ofthe bridge uponthe arch of the board tends to prevent it from vibrating away from theback. The strain upon theiustrument also tends to rack it, andparticularly is this the case because the sound ing-board is rigidlyglued to the ribs and has no opportunity to meet the strain in anelastic manner.

I have discovered, by frequent experiment, that the interposition of athin layer of cork between the sounding-board and theribs contributes toremedy the aforementioned defects, as well as other defects, to behereinafter mentioned, in the construction of the instrument.

In order to make my invention more fully understood, I will now describethe same in detail.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, of allof a violin excepting the upper part of the neck and connections, thesounding-board being in part broken away to show how myimprovementisapplied in the construction of the instrument. Fig. 2 represents atransverse section of a part of the sounding-board, rib, and the layerof cork, and illustrating their preferred relative positions and sizesto one another; and Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of the bodyof the instrument shown in Fig. 1 taken at the dotted line 00 m, Fig. 1.

A designates the body of the instrument, B the sounding board, C theribs, and D the back. The tail-piece E is suitably secured, in the usualmanner, to the lower end of the body A, and the strings F are strung, asusual, from this tail-piece to the pins of the neck H, the first portionof which is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The strings rest upon thebridge K. A thin layer of cork, M, lies upon and is glued to the upperedge of the rib C. The latter is formed in any of the customary ways,and is here shown as consisting of the vertical piece a and thecustomary corner bracing-strips a, tightly glued to the vertical piecesa. The layer M of cork extends over the top of the vertical piece a, andalso, as shown,preferably extends over the top of the upperbracingstrip, a, and is glued to both of the pieces a and a. Thesou'udingboard B rests upon the layer M of cork, and is tightly gluedthereto.

In practice it is found that this layer of cork,

ICO

apparently insignificant, accomplishes great results. As it isresilient, it allows the sounding-board, under pressure, to expand orcontract, and also allows the board to vibrate up and down in answer tovertical pressure or the vibration of the strings, thereby allowing thesounding-board free play and enabling it to give forth a stronger andpurer quality of tone.

Another advantage derived from my improvement is as follows, viz: Itfrequently becomes necessary in string-instruments to remove thesounding-board from the ribs. This necessity mostfrequently arises fromthe sound ing-board being split or cracked or otherwise damaged. As thesounding-board is the most valuable part of a good, and particularly ofan old, violin, and a new sounding-board, if substituted for the oldone, would, in all likelihood, be inferior to the old and well-triedboard, with all its imperfections, it becomes greatly desirable to savesuch board, and, after repairing it by strips glued upon its inner side,or in any other preferred way, to replace itagain upon the body of theinstrument. As the sounding-board is ordinarily glued to the ribs muchdifficulty exists in separating it therefrom, and in so doing the woodof the sounding-board, or of the ribs, or both are frequently split orotherwise injured, thus, particularly when the sounding-board isinjured, injuring the instrument and its musical capacity.

My improvement, as will be perceived upon a moments consideration,enables the sounding-board to be quickly removed from the body of theinstrument without injury to the ribs, or

the ribs and sounding-board and a new layer of cork substituted for theold one, the new layer being glued to the ribs and the sounding-board insubstantially the same manner as has been mentioned of the old layer.When desired, another layer'of cork may be inter- 5o posed between theribs and back and connected to same in substantially the same mannerthat a layer of cork is placed between the ribs and sounding-board, andconnected thereto. Such a cork layer between the ribs and back willenable the ribs and back to be readily and safely separated from eachother.

Vhat claim as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-- 1. In a violin or similar musical instrument,

the combination of the sounding-board, ribs, back, and a layer or layersof cork, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In a violin or similar musical instrument,

the combination of the sounding-board, ribs,

back, and a layer of cork interposed between the sounding-board and theribs, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

JOHN KOPP. Attest:

JOHN J. MoLLoY, E. R. HILL.

Usually thelayer of cork is not materially 4o

